


Everybody Talks

by fivecansofolives



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Chaptered, Coming Out, M/M, Post Season 4, Road Trips, this is my first fic so be kind <3
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:41:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29387166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fivecansofolives/pseuds/fivecansofolives
Summary: After Jeff learns some unsettling news, Craig takes him on a spontaneous road trip to cheer him up.
Relationships: Dean Craig Pelton/Jeff Winger
Comments: 8
Kudos: 24





	Everybody Talks

Craig’s raised fist hovered over the apartment door next to his. It had been a full week since he had seen Jeffrey, and he was beginning to worry. He knew that his neighbor was prone to periods of isolation, coupled with a few too many glasses (or bottles) of scotch. He knew that he was irritable, sarcastic, and didn’t hide when he was sick of seeing someone. He knew that no one could ever really know what to expect when they knocked on his door; whether they would be greeted with a small, honest smile, or an eye roll and a slam. 

He never expected this. 

_ Silence _ . 

He knocked again, trying his damndest to keep his brain from jumping to the worst case scenario.  _ He’s not dead. He’s not gone. He didn’t move out. He’s probably just asleep.  _ Craig knew he could never quite manage to keep his anxiety at bay when Jeffrey was involved.  He lifted his arm to knock a third time, panic starting to creep into his throat, but the door swung slowly open before he could get to it. 

He exhaled. The sight of the tall, muscular man always took his breath away. Even under less than ideal circumstances. These could certainly be considered less than ideal. Jeff Winger was in slightly too small sweatpants and a stained white tank top. His eyes were puffy and dark. Craig felt his breath hitch.  _ Now is  _ _ not _ _ the time to be letting your feelings get the best of you when Jeffrey is CLEARLY in crisis!  _ he chided himself silently. He allowed himself one quick glance up and down, storing a mental image for later, but gasped when his eyes finally reached Jeff’s head. 

“Jeffrey! Your hair! There’s no product in it!!”

“Do you need something, Dean? Or are you just going to stand there pointing out my flaws.”

Craig felt himself bristle a little at the formal title. Even though they didn't see each other as much now that he had graduated from Greendale, he still knew Jeffrey well enough to know that he only called him dean when he was unhappy about something. “Well, we both know you don’t have any of those but that’s besides the point,” he teased, trying to lighten the mood. “I’m just worried about you! I normally bump into you around the building at least once every day or two, but it’s been a week now and I just wanted to make sure you’re still-”

“Alive?”

Craig sighed. “I just want to know that you’re okay. I care about you, Jeffrey.”

The next thing he knew, Jeff Winger (tall, strong, serially cynical Jeffrey Tobias Winger) was crying. It was not something Craig had ever seen before, and he wasn’t entirely sure how to handle it. 

“There… there…” he cooed, patting Jeff’s arm chastely and from a respectful distance. Jeff leaned into the touch, more comforted by the familiarity than he’d like to admit. Craig cringed a little at the scent of alcohol emanating from every pore on the taller man, but didn’t let it shake him. “You’re safe with me. You can let it out.”

“I-” Jeff pressed the heel of his hand to the base of his eye, trying to stop the now steady flow of tears. “You remember how I spent Thanksgiving with my father last year?”

Craig nodded, pulling a daintily embroidered handkerchief from his pocket and offering it wordlessly.

Jeff just stared at it. “Do I wanna know?” he cracked, between shaky breaths.

Craig glanced back down at the handkerchief. “Clean. I promise.” He put his right hand over his heart as though taking a solemn vow and offered it again. 

Jeff sighed and took the cloth, wiping away the tears and snot that had streaked his face. Without realizing, he inhaled deeply, clocking the perfume that permeated the thin white fabric as Craig’s signature scent. Or at least, the one he wore to accompany his more traditionally feminine outfits. He smiled, almost against his will. “Thank you.” For once there was no note of sarcasm in his voice. 

Craig hesitated, before breaking the momentary silence by prompting him to go on. “You were saying?”

“Right,” Jeff sighed. “So my father. I don’t think I ever told you all the details, but I confronted him that night. Thanksgiving. Told him what a terrible fuck-up he turned me into, told him about my scar.”

Craig’s eyes shot to the floor as he nodded somberly. Jeffrey’s fake appendicitis story was one he remembered well. One that he worried himself over often. Seldom did Jeff ever reveal personal information, especially not to him. But when Jeff stopped by to apologize for the things that Evil Jeff had said on the evening of his early graduation, he ended up staying for one last dinner. He insisted they would still see each other around, but both knew it wouldn’t be quite the same. In a rare moment of bonding, the two of them spent the evening discussing past Greendale antics and various instances of childhood trauma over several glasses of wine and a couple of shitty movies. Jeff went home at 4 am. Craig stayed up for the rest of the night high on a strange cocktail of emotions, filled to the brim with both glee that Jeffrey had opened up to him so much, and deep concern over the things he had heard. It was a night he remembered well. 

“I thought I told him everything I needed to say,” Jeff continued on, his eyes once again brimming with tears. “I thought I got my goddamn closure.”

Craig tilted his head inquisitively. 

“My dad is dead, Craig. I got the call a couple days ago.” Jeff broke again, his shoulders shaking with sobs.

“Oh, Jeffrey. I’m so sorry. It’s going to be alright.” Craig tentatively opened his arms to offer a hug, not sure if the taller man would perceive it as an unwelcome advance. He knew, of course, that Jeffrey didn’t reciprocate his affections. He had been trying for almost four years now to make them go away, although to no avail. That said, he really did just want to offer comfort at this moment. No ulterior motives. 

Jeff looked him up and down. Defeated, he slipped into the dean’s arms, crumpling his head onto the shorter man’s shoulder. Luckily he was in one of his “normal” outfits, so Jeff didn’t have to worry about ruining expensive material with his tears. “It’s not that I miss him. He was a piece of shit, you know that.”

Craig nodded, absentmindedly rubbing his palm in circles on Jeff’s back in a soothing motion. When he realized what he was doing he paused. “Is this okay?” 

Jeff considered it and nodded back, before continuing to speak. “Thanks. It’s just that… I realized there was something I never got to tell him. My last bit of closure. And now I’ll never get the chance.” His shoulders shook once again.

Craig pulled his head back, meeting Jeffrey’s eyes. “Do you mind if I ask what it was? You don’t have to tell me, I’m just wondering so I know how best to support y-”

“I’m bisexual.”

“Oh.” Craig paused, as a realization flickered across his face. “Oh!” He suddenly felt awkward with the object of his affections crying in his arms. Especially now that he knew there was a chance his attraction could be reciprocated.  _ Come on, Craig. Don’t tell yourself there’s a “chance.” Why would a man like Jeffrey Winger ever want to be with someone like you?? You’re not even a good dean! _ Feeling his face go red, he pulled away from the embrace and covered his embarrassment with a cough. The last thing he wanted was to make Jeff uncomfortable. 

“Don’t get any ideas,” Jeff joked. Then, with more seriousness, “It’s not like it’s a big deal. It just sucks that I can’t tell him, you know?”

Craig nodded, his furious blush having receded a bit by now.

“God, Pierce would be having a field day if he heard me right now. He always said I needed a strong father figure to come out to. Britta too, for that matter, with all her psychologist crap. She’d be going on and on about my so-called ‘edible’ complex.” He hesitated. “You won’t tell her, will you? It’s not that I  _ care _ if she knows, it’s just-”

“You don’t have to explain. I won’t tell anyone,” Craig reassured. “Now,” he said, taking a step back and brushing his hands together, “we are gonna get you out of here, mmkay?”

“Huh?” Jeff asked, somewhat startled by his neighbor’s sudden change in tone.

“I’ve gone through stuff like this before, believe it or not, and I know just the thing to cure your blues.” Craig pulled his keys from his back pocket and jangled them in front of Jeff. “Plus, you look like you haven’t seen the sun in days. The outside world misses you, Jeffrey! So pack your bags, I’ll be back in 20 minutes.”

“Craig. Slow down. You haven’t told me where you’re supposedly taking me,” Jeff said with a signature eye roll. 

“Where else?! A road trip, of course!” 

And with that he was off, undoubtedly planning road trip outfits in his head as he sauntered giddily into his own apartment. Jeff sighed and looked down at his state of attire.  _ I guess I should probably shower and change. God knows I’ll be underdressed either way.  _


End file.
